Pattern matching and recursion issue - scala

Question

Following is my ADT. Main thing to notice is that Blocks can be nested (look at the children property.
trait Cda {
def format: String = this match {
case f: Field => f.value
case Block(fields, children) => fields.map(f => f.format).mkString("|") + "|" + children.map(b => b.format).mkString("|")
case Record(keys, blocks) => blocks.map(b => b.format).mkString("|")
}
}
trait Field extends Cda {
val name: String
val value: String
}
case class StringField(name: String, value: String) extends Field
case class DateField(name: String, value: String) extends Field
case class TimeField(name: String, value: String) extends Field
case class MatchKey(keyFields: Seq[Field]) extends Cda
case class Block(fields: Seq[Field], children: Seq[Block] = Seq()) extends Cda
case class Record(key: MatchKey, blocks: Seq[Block]) extends Cda
Following is an example instantiation of that ADT
//Block - AI
val aiBlockId = StringField("blockId", "AI")
val addlFieldPos = StringField("AdditionalFieldPosition", "addlFieldPos")
val addlFieldName = StringField("AdditionalFieldName", "addlFieldName")
val AI = Block(Seq(aiBlockId, addlFieldPos, addlFieldName))
//Block - RPS
val rpsBlockId = StringField("blockId", "RPS")
val dateOfStatus = DateField("DateOfStatus", "19240811")
val timeOfStatus = TimeField("TimeOfStatus", "023829")
val rpsBlocks = Seq(rpsBlockId, dateOfStatus, timeOfStatus)
val rpsNestedBlocks = Seq(AI)
val RPS = Block(rpsBlocks, rpsNestedBlocks)
I am expecting to format to return RPS|19240811|023829|AI|addlFieldPos|addlFieldName but I am getting an additional pipe | at the end: RPS|19240811|023829|AI|addlFieldPos|addlFieldName|.
How to change the recursive function format (specifically case Block(fields,children)) to correct this?

Answer 1

Combine the seqs first. It's cheaper to use an iterator, which won't create an intermediate collection.
scala> val as = Seq(1,2,3) ; val bs = Seq.empty[Int]
as: Seq[Int] = List(1, 2, 3)
bs: Seq[Int] = List()
scala> (as ++ bs).mkString("|")
res0: String = 1|2|3
scala> (as.iterator ++ bs).mkString("|")
res1: String = 1|2|3
That is,
case Block(fields, children) => (fields.iterator ++ children).map(_.format).mkString("|")

Answer 2

trait Cda {
def format: String = this match {
case f: Field => f.value
case Block(fields, children) => fields.map(f => f.format).mkString("|") + {if (!children.isEmpty) {"|" + children.map(b => b.format).mkString("|")} else ""}
case Record(keys, blocks) => blocks.map(b => b.format).mkString("|")
}
}